The Story of Annabeth Chase
by Anaire
Summary: The world is in chaos. Percy failed to recover the lightning bolt, a war has began, and her friend is going crazy. This is the story of one demigod, huddled in an abandoned subway station, as her world breaks apart. AU


_In a dark corner of an abandoned subway station lays a small metal box, smeared with mud. If one would open the box, they would find a collection of video tapes, each labeled with a date. The only unusual thing about the it is a plaque, carefully glued to the top of the box, that reads 'The Story of Annabeth Chase.'_

**Video 1; **_**'WATCH ME FIRST'**_**; July 22, 2005**

-A slight girl appears in the camera. Her long, curly blonde hair that once could've been beautiful is stringy and dirty. Her stormy gray eyes are alight with fear and a peculiar kind of sadness. She glances around as if afraid someone would stop her. Her voice quivers as she speaks- "I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of" – she pauses and glances around nervously- "Athena. I made this video because I wanted people to know my story, and to know it's not his fault!"-She appears to get increasingly agitated, her voice rising. - "It's not! It was Ares, that" –She cuts herself off and breaths deeply, calming sown some.- "I should…I should start from the beginning. Suring the winter solstice, something was stolen from Olympus. Something important. The master bolt of Lord Zeus. Poseidon was immediately blamed for the theft, and Zeus decreed that if his property wasn't returned by the summer solstice, there would be war. And…and then Poseidon revealed that he had broke this huge, serious vow and had kids by claiming" –She looks around warily before continuing. - "Percy. Percy became the prime suspect, and was sent on a quest to recover the bolt. Grover, he's a satyr, and me went along with him. Anyways, it erupted into this huge mess. Percy, he, he _had _the bolt, he had it, but the 'God Ares' stopped us. There was this terrible fight, Percy vs. Ares, and…Percy lost. We all got knocked unconscious, and three days later I woke up in the hospital to the sound of a storm and Percy's pacing. Grover was outside, telling the police a sob story about how the man was a kidnapper. When Percy saw that I was awake, he rushed over and asked me how I was before telling me that Zeus had declared war on Poseidon. He looked so beaten and desperate…"- She trails off before shaking herself back to focus. - "He told me the solstice had passed and we had to get back to New York. The bolt had vanished, and Ares hadn't been seen since the battle on the beach. As soon as we were cleared with the police and checked out of the hospital, we began looking for a way back. All the flights were cancelled because of a series of floods and storms all across the continental USA. The only thing we could find was one train that was still accepting passengers, and I'm ashamed to admit that I pick-pocketed some fat rich lady's wallet to afford our tickets. The train ride was horrible. Percy couldn't sit still. He kept pacing and checking the clock, muttering about how there wasn't enough time. Grover and I couldn't do anything but watch helplessly. When we finally arrived, New York was…not a pretty site. The streets were flooded, and there was this angry-looking lightning cloud surrounding the top of the Empire State Building. We tried to get up to Olympus to try and smooth this whole catastrophe out, but the elevator was broken. Percy was worried about his mom; if she had returned from the Underworld, even though we didn't recover the Helm of Darkness. We fought our way to his house and…Gods, it was so terrible." –Tears begin to leak from her eyes. - "There was this huge, burned split down the side of his house. Percy practically ripped the door off the hinges to get inside. We heard something in the kitchen and ran in there. Percy blocked the doorway, so I had to stand on my tiptoes to see what was happening. There was this man in the kitchen. He was kneeling, hand rested on a body lying on the kitchen floor, looking up at the ceiling, muttering something in rapid, too fast to understand, Ancient Greek. He was huge and burly, with long, tangled white hair falling down his back. The man was wearing a burned, soaking, ripped Hawaiian-style shirt, and tattered jeans. Percy stumbled back, almost tripping over his own feet, and said…and said, 'Dad?' The man, who I know now to be Poseidon, whirled around faster than humanly possible and snarled at Percy. He looked old, much older than I've ever seen any god look, and so angry. His eyes changed color, going from blacks, to grays, like a violent ocean storm. He yelled at Percy, his voice booming, 'You have no right to call me Father! You are not worthy of being my child!'" –She is crying freely now. - Percy looked like he had been slapped in the face. Poseidon gestured behind him and showed him this, this body. Oh Gods, it was so terrible, so terrible. It was Percy's mom. Her dress had a ripped hole in the middle with blackened edges and skin. Her hair was partially burned off, and she had this look of pure terror on her face." –The girl is weeping as she remembers it. - "It was only then that I noticed the stench of burned skin in the room. Percy ran forward, past Poseidon and began to shake her. He was sobbing and begging for her to wake up and Grover was puking and looked like he might pass out, and I couldn't do anything but stand shell-shocked at the terrible sight in front of me. Poseidon stood to the side, watching Percy with a look of contempt. Percy rounded on Poseidon, sobbing, and yelled, his voice raw with pain, demanding that Poseidon tell him who did it. Poseidon calmly stared at him for what seemed like hours. When he eventually spoke, his voice was calm and level but filled with _so much hate._ He told Percy that Zeus had forcefully overpowered his brother Hades and pulled Sally back to the overworld, only to smite her with lightning as a punishment to both Percy and himself. Then…then he told Percy it was his fault. Percy froze for a minute, his expression one of utter confusion. He eventually mumbled, 'My…my fault?' Then he snapped back and began shaking his head, no, no, it wasn't! It was Poseidon's fault, he should have protected her. He stood up and got right up next to his dad, screaming and yelling. Then Poseidon slapped him so hard Percy flew through the air and hit a wall_. _Percy groaned and got back to his knees, staring at his dad. Poseidon just scoffed before pointing a finger at Percy and saying, 'Do not blame me for this, you insolent child. _You _failed Olympus, and _you _are the one to blame.' Then he snapped his fingers and just disappeared." –She had stopped crying and was just staring blankly at a random spot on the floor- "Percy just laid on the floor before crawling over to his mom's body. Grover and me had sunk to the floor at some point and just sat there, blankly watching him. Percy closed her eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. We all sat there in silence for at least an hour, before Percy whispered something to his mom, snatched something from her neck, and turned to us. His eyes were looked bitter and were filled with hatred…I couldn't help but be reminded of Luke after his quest. He told us to get up. Percy was almost unrecognizable from the boy less than a week ago. His voice sounded steely and…and like he was repressing tons of pent up anger. I was still so dazed that I couldn't do anything but stare at him. His calm façade broke for a moment, and he yelled at us to _Get. Up. _We were so shocked that we scrambled to our feet. He forcefully pushed past us and out the door. Grover yelled at him, asking where he was going. He barely broke stride, responding with a curt, 'Where they can't find us.' Grover and I glanced at each other before scrambling after him. We waded through the flooded streets of New York. I noticed that, where Percy hadn't gotten wet before, he was now just as soaked as us. I don't even think he noticed. It was…unsettling. We walked for around an hour before coming to rest at the entrance of an abandoned subway station. Percy kicked down the boards holding the doors closed and went in, leaving Grover and me no choice but to follow. Percy directed us to a cold, damp corner and told us to wait for him to come back, before leaving us in the dark. He came back about an hour later with two shopping carts filled with a few miniature generators, a mini fridge, some food, a table, some lightbulbs, some stringy lights like go on Christmas Trees, a laptop computer, and some other various assorted stuff. He didn't tell us where he got the money for it all. We didn't ask. He set everything up and grabbed a flashlight. He told us he was going to go scope the place out, and that we should get some rest. He jumped down onto the old subway tracks and ran off into the darkness. I called after him, but he wouldn't stop. We watched until the pinprick of light from his flashlight disappeared. Then we got some sleeping bags from a shopping cart and went to sleep, back-to-back." –The girl sighs before continuing. - "It's been a month since that happened. Last we heard, Camp Half-Blood was destroyed by something, and the war is still raging. And Percy…Percy is not well. He's cold and indifferent, and will lash out at you for the littlest things. Grover isn't doing well either. I can tell being cooped up in the near dark is wearing on his nerves. We…obtained another laptop that Percy uses day in and day out researching Greek mythology. I…I think he's looking up a way to get revenge on Zeus and his dad. When he isn't doing that, he's down along the tracks where he's set up a practice dummy, hacking away at it. Grover is normally outside the subway station, looking for food. And I'm…I'm just trying to find a way to keep us alive." –She hears a scuffle in the darkness and her eyes widen.- "I need to go now. I'll try to update as soon as I can. Bye. –The screen goes black.-


End file.
